Linda Stewart (1)

As you can see from the book's cover, it's a middle-grade reader with a cat named Sam as the lead character.

This story surpassed all my expectations. It's narrated in the 1st person from Sam's point of view. There is a noir feel, Sam sees himself as the feline Sam Spade, though that's not overdone.

All the characters are cats and they are well-drawn, with different personalities & different motivations. Sandy, the Catslop poster cat made me laugh out loud.

My only complaint is that it took me a while to be sure that all the characters were cats. Sam's friend's name is Spike which is a stereotypical dog name :-). At one point at the beginning Spike puts his "hand" over something, which was jarring because I didn't know if the author was trying to further humanize the characters or if it was a mistake. Later they are "paws".

I loved this story and I laughed out loud in a couple places. I will be seeking out the other books in this series!… (plus d'informations)

Some genuinely funny bits in this kids' mystery centered on Sam the Cat Detective. These books have elements of screwball comedy and film noir in them; pretty neat for kids.
A sample:
Picture two cats walking down the sidewalk, one of them having been drugged:
Buster said, 'Walk.'
It seemed like an interesting, funny idea. I started walking. Walking was nice. It was something like dancing, without the music. I started humming.
Buster said, 'Man, you are just so out of it. Lucky I stayed.'
'For which I thank you,' I said, 'from my bottom.'
He looked at me sideways.
I said, 'From my heart. From the heart of my bottom. Is that how it goes?'
He looked at me sharply. 'I'm walking you home.'… (plus d'informations)